History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.112

v3.c40.112

VI. 26-29, Aṅgiras 69-70, Āp. (verse) 8. 9-11 severely condemn a brāhmaṇa partaking of food from śūdras. Aṅgiras 75, Āp. (verse) VIII. 8-9 declare that a brāhmaṇa who is an agnihotrin and yet does not desist from śūdra food loses five viz. his self, his vedic lore and his three (sacred fires). Medhātithi on Manu V. 84 expressly states that the barber is touchable and bhojyānna (whose food may be taken). This shows that up to the 9th century A. D. the rules about taking food from even certain śūdras had not become rigid in all provinces of India. Aṅgiras 77-78. Āp. (verse) 8. 11-13 and Yama (quoted in Gṛ. R. p. 334) declare that a brāhmaṇa may eat at a brāhmaṇa's at all times, at a kṣatriya's only on parvans (on full moon &c.), at a vaiśya's when the latter is initiated for a sacrifice, at a śūdra's never and the food of the four varṇas is respectively like nectar, milk, food and blood.¹⁸⁸⁶ According to Manu IV. 223 a brāhmaṇa could take from a śūdra uncooked food for a night, if he had no other means of subsistence. When exactly brāhmaṇas were forbidden to take food from kṣatriyas or vaiśyas it is difficult to say. In the Kalivarjya section all that is forbidden is taking food from the five śūdras enumerated in Manu IV. 253. Gaut. 17. 1 prescribes that fuel, water, fodder, roots, fruits, honey, protection, what is offered unasked, a bed, seat, shelter, conveyance, milk, curds, roasted grain, *śafarī* (small fish), priyaṅgu (millet), a garland, meat of deer, vegetables must not be refused when offered by any one spontaneously. Vas. Dh. S. 14. 12, Manu IV. 50 are to the same effect. Aṅgiras¹⁸⁸⁷ quoted in Gṛ. R. p. 337 states that cow's milk, barley flour, oil, oil-cakes, cakes (of flour) may be taken from a śūdra and eaten and whatever else is cooked in milk. Bṛhat-Parāśara VI. says 'uncooked meat, ghee, honey and oils extracted from fruits, even if they are kept in a mleccha's vessel, become pure the moment they are taken out of such vessel; similarly milk, curds, and ghee contained in vessels of ābhīras are blameless and the vessels are pure as long as these articles are contained in them.¹⁸⁸⁸ Laghu-Śātātapa 128 says that corn lying in the field or on the threshing floor, water drawn from wells and milk while still in the cow enclosures may be taken even from one whose food is forbidden. Even such later writers as Haradatta stated that a brāhmaṇa may eat the food of the five śūdras named by Manu IV. 253 in extreme distress only.